Can someone walk me through creating sweeping circles in Motion 5?

[Simon Ubsdell]

Try this tutorial of mine for an interesting take on this technique:

https://youtu.be/_GvmF3blpK0

It should help you to create what you want … and a lot, lot more.

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki

Some contents or functionalities here are not available due to your cookie preferences!

This happens because the functionality/content marked as “Google Youtube” uses cookies that you choosed to keep disabled. In order to view this content or use this functionality, please enable cookies: click here to open your cookie preferences.

[Simon Ubsdell]

Of course, you could ignore the tutorial and simply create a circle with a big fat outline and no fill. (If the outline width is large enough, it will create a filled circle.)

Set the Start and End caps to None.

Add a Write On Behavior to each circle and set it to Draw and Erase.

Duplicate as required, changing the colours and sizes.

Offset the start points of your circles and rotate some of them through 180 degrees on Y, and so on as required.

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki

[Michael Riley]

I will absolutely check out your tutorial. Thank you so much for posting that. You advice for the write-on technique was absolutely the solution I was looking for. So much gratitude to you right now!

[Simon Ubsdell]

Glad to hear that worked for you.

Pleased to be of help 🙂

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki

[Michael Riley]

I discovered the ideal solution for what I need. The solution for creating a circle with a huge outline shift left the middle with an uneven swing.

My steps:
1. Draw a straight line.
2. Hit L to replicate the line.
3. Create a sequence replicator.
4. Replicator settings:
Shape: Line
All start and end points at 0
600 Points
Angle End: 360

Sequence Replicator Settings:
Opacity: 0%
Sequencing: From

Now I have another question.

At the halfway mark I want the change the second half of the circle to a different color. One half blue and the other half red. Keyframing colors makes a gradual change which is not what I want. I could probably make two separate line/replicator layers and make the angle end degrees 180, but is there a simpler solution for this?

[Michael Riley]

Also brush width on the original line has to be 15 and the brush type has to be airbrush.

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Michael Riley] “At the halfway mark I want the change the second half of the circle to a different color. One half blue and the other half red. Keyframing colors makes a gradual change which is not what I want. I could probably make two separate line/replicator layers and make the angle end degrees 180, but is there a simpler solution for this?”

Use your crazy replicator (!) as a matte for a colour gradient.

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki

[Simon Ubsdell]

Or why not try using Color Mode/Over Patterm in your replicator?

If you set the Point 2 origin for your Line to zero on X and Y you can achieve a nice radial gradient using this method.

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki

[Simon Ubsdell]

Another cool way of creating a radial gradient is to apply a Radial Blur to a Two Color Ray Generator with just two divisions.

There are many, many ways of achieving the same effect in Motion – it all depends on which you prefer. And of course some are a lot more efficient than others …

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki

[Simon Ubsdell]

Try this alternative method, which is a lot more efficient and which allows you to work with a gradient. It’s well worth knowing about this technique because it has many uses.

Add a gradient generator (1920×1080 in a 1080 project) and set the Start X and Y to zero, End X to say 1440 (or to taste) and End Y to zero. (Make sure it is centred on the canvas.)

Make the enclosing group Fixed Resolution and add a Polar filter to the group. Use a circular mask as necessary to crop the outside of the circle to the required size.

Now simply animate the X position of the gradient – start at negative 1920 and end at positive 1920.

Obviously by adjusting the gradient itself you can achieve a whole range of different and interesting results. Or you could simply use the result as a matte for your own fill.

The Polar filter can seem confusing at first if you’re not used to the concept but it can be immensely useful for this kind of thing.

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki